Third person charged with sexual assault in Sept. 8 incident

Posted: October 23, 2012 - 3:12pm

October 23, 2012 - 08:12pm

Third person charged with sexual assault in Sept. 8 incident

BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG

STAFF WRITER

A third person has been charged in the Sept. 8 incident in which a 17-year-old boy was sexually assaulted with an object at a large teenage party on East End Road. Alaska State Troopers at about 7:15 p.m. Sunday arrested a 16-year-old Homer boy and charged him with second-degree sexual assault. The teen was taken to the Kenai Youth Facility.

Because the defendant is a minor, the case was referred to the Division of Juvenile Justice. His name was not released.

The 16-year-old boy was charged in connection with the same incident as Anthony Resetarits, 20, and Joseph Resetarits, 18. The brothers were charged with one count each of second-degree sexual assault, penetration of an incapacitated person.

Citing the continuing investigation and confidentiality rules regarding minors charged with a crime, trooper spokesperson Megan Peters said she could not discuss the 16-year-old boy’s exact role in the assault, but did confirm he was charged in the same incident. She also declined to say where the boy attended school or provide any other information that could potentially identify him.

In charging documents for the Resetarits brothers, Trooper Sgt. Jeremy Stone alleged that from 60 to 80 people, including Homer High School students, attended a party Sept. 8 and 9 at an East End Road home.

The 17-year-old boy arrived at the party about 10 p.m. Sept. 8 and eventually passed out on a couch in the living room.

The father of the boy who started the party and the owner of the home where it happened told troopers he went to sleep in his bedroom near to the living room before the party started and did not know any juveniles drank alcohol until the next morning when he found alcohol containers. The party grew from a few invited friends to about 60 to 80 people, including members of the Homer High School Mariners football team, members of other Homer High teams, Homer High alumni and other people.

Troopers allege that while the boy was passed out, multiple people wrote on the boy’s body with a marker while others took videos and photographs and that Anthony Resetarits shaved an “M” into the boy’s hair.

Another boy tried to wake up the drunk boy, but he remained unresponsive.

After Anthony Resetarits shaved the boy’s head, people around the boy shouted out suggestions about what to do next. An unidentified person suggested an obscene act. Anthony Resetarits allegedly sexually assaulted the boy with an object, with Joseph Resetarits also participating, Stone wrote in the complaint.

Troopers recovered multiple photographs taken at the party, including one of two men sexually assaulting the boy. The boy who took the photo identified the Resetarits brothers as the men in the photo, Stone wrote.

The party broke up shortly after the incident and the unconscious boy was taken to his mother. A nurse reported to troopers the sexual assault after the boy was treated at South Peninsula Hospital

Fourteen Homer High School student athletes who were at the party were suspended from activities the week of Oct. 10 for violating Alaska Student Activities Association rules for being at a party where alcohol was served.

The Resetarits brothers were released on bail last week and are in the custody of their parents. A preliminary hearing for the brothers is at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Homer Courthouse.